OTAHUHU LEADS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 148, 25 June 1945, Page 7

OTAHUHU LEADS

AUCKLAND LEAGUE

MT. ALBERT AND CITY DRAW

Otahuhu is now leader in the Auckland Rugby League senior championship competition, with Richmond and Mt. Albert level for second place. In the matches played on Saturday, Otahuhu had an easy win over Newton, and Mt. Albert, which was sharing the lead with Otahuhu, played a draw with City. In the main match of the day Richmond outplayed Marist, while on Walker Park Pt. Chevalier had a surprise win at the expense of Manukau. Results were:— Richmond 13, Marist 5. Ponsonby 11, North Shore 5. Otahuhu 33, Newton 2. , City 7, Mt. Albert 7. Pt. Chevalier 14, Manukau x 2. Richmond Rearrangement.—With two Auckland representative players absent, R. McGregor and B. Lowther, a rearrangement of the Richmond backs was necessary for the match against Marist. F. Furnell, a pre-war full-back, was in his old position, and the centre was J. Magill, who for several past seasons was the Richmond full-back. With the rearrangement the Richmond attack went smoothly, although in the absence of McGregor there was not the usual sharp penetration and thrust with the midfield play. Prenter, a former Air Force player, was impressive on the wing, and creditably filled the role of goal-kicker by converting one of the three tries which were scored, and kicking a penalty goal.

Newton Lacks Staying Power. — In the first half of its match with Otahuhu, Newton showed some of the promise it revealed against City the previous Saturday, hut the side once more tired badly after half-time and permitted its opponents to put on 22 points. Once they had settled down the Otahuhu backs were responsible for some bright passing movements in which the Speedys and Riley were prominent, with Simons on the wing also running hard whenever the ball came his way. The principal Newton weakness lay in its backline, from which Hawkes was absent, but a need for all-round improvement in tackliug and following up was also indicated.

Mount Albert Out of Luck.—Though City should be given full credit for its impressively sound defence, there was an element of luck in the team's draw with Mount Albert. Honours were even in the first half, following an opening rally in which City put on its seven points, but Mount Albert was on the offensive right through the second half, and the greater part of the game was fought out a few yards from the City line. Mount declined two reasonably certain penalty chances in favour of attacking for the line. When Neary eventually touched down to put the teams level Cranch missed the conversion from in front of the posts. City almost carried off the honours when Silva made a brave attempt to place a penalty from wide out, the ball just going wide.

Ponsonby's Superior Speed.—Speed is an accepted factor in the success of a League team, and this stood to Ponsonby, when North Shore went down in a fast and open curtain-raiser. The Ponsonby backs handled well, and the three-quarters got plenty of the ball, with the result that Roy Nurse showed his speed to score two good tries. At centre three-quarter, Kelly gave easily his best display since coming over to the League code. He made several great openings, but has a tendency to run too far once a scoring chance looks likely. North Shore is undoubtedly an improved team, and there was not a great deal between the teams. The Shore forwards in particular gave a fine display, with Graham, Field and Hunt outstanding.

Maoris Beat Hunlly.—A strong Maori team narrowly defeated Huntly yesterday at the coal mining town by 16 points to 14. Heavy rain marred what promised to be a splendid display of the code. It was, however, strenuous and well contested football. Murray and Pedley, on the wing, played splendid games for the Maori team, while Kirkwood, at centre, was always prominent on attack. Butler also played a fine game. Among the forwards, Ririhui was the best on the ground and Hilton also did effective work. A feature of the game was the good play of R. Stevens at full-back for Huntly and L. Williams and Hambleton were the pick of the forwards. For the Maoris, tries were scored by Pedley (2), Murray and Kirkwood, one each. Butler converted two tries. For Huntly, Williams scored two tries and Stevens converted both, and also kicked two penalty goals. At a social function which followed, life membership of the South Auckland League was conferred on Mr. Brownie Paki.